Six Degrees of William Cohen

...The Asia Pacific Policy Center was established in 1993 by policy experts who had served at various times in the Reagan and Bush administrations...

...By the time he announced his retirement in January1996, Cohen openly lamented that there are not more people like himself in Congress...

...Receptionists tell callers the two organizations are not connected...

...Stout did not respond to messages asking for comment...

...In addition to those heavy hitters, the Policy Center also employed Cohen's son Kevin, who was the group's program director until September 1994...

...Stout helped the new Center get on its feet financially...

...And there was even more of it in years past...

...Times," Jackson says...

...But I can assure you there is no impropriety...

...Stout helped bankroll the Center when it started in 1993...

...This is the account of Washington Post columnist David Broder: It was one of the less elevating debates in recent Senate annals, especially the night they were kept late waiting for several of their colleagues to return from a dinner for the prime minister of Malaysia...

...Another topic, according to Jackson, was a plea for the president to visit Thailand, which he did in November, meeting again with the Thai businessman and having the much-reported brief encounter with Cohen...

...The press was skeptical about Cohen's presence...

...Mtn Di Inteffrity Throughout his more than twenty years in Congress—beginning with his famous stand against Richard Nixon in 1974 — Cohen has carefully cultivated the image of himself as a bipartisan, centrist man of integrity...

...The trips resulted in some bad publicity for Cohen when the Times revealed them in 1994...

...Besides whatever value they may have had to his performance as a senator, trips like the one in November also created connections that likely would have helped make Cohen a rich man after leaving the Senate, had he not been tapped for secretary of defense...

...Kanchanalak's lawyer says she never had a "formal role" in the Council...

...In 1995 he sponsored the Senate's most recent "gift ban" legislation, which prohibits senators from accepting free trips to events like golf and tennis tournaments...

...Of course, that is the very reason that none of this is likely to cause Cohen any problems during his confirmation hearings—because many of his former colleagues have done and continue to do the same things...

...There is a widespread perception in the American public that Congress is for sale," he told fellow senators, "that for the price of a steak dinner or a fruit basket at Christmas, members would change votes...

...In June 1996 she brought Jackson and a top Thai businessman there for a private meeting with the president...

...A recent survey by the congressional newspaper the Hill found that "two senators, 18 House members and at least 124 congressional staffers took all-expense-paid trips to Taiwan in the first nine months" of 1996...

...The U.S.-Thailand Business Council was founded in 1994 by Thai government and business officials who wanted to strengthen business ties between the two countries...

...During this same period Cohen seems to have developed a relationship with GIMCorp...

...A year before that, Cohen took the lead in another effort to clean up the lawmakers' image...

...Stout also founded something called the Government Research Corporation, a lobbying firm that allowed Stout to capitalize on his connections on Capitol Hill...

...78 February 1997 • The American Spectator...

...And there have been allegations in Taiwan that Association chairman Jeffrey Koo has used his organization to make political contributions to American candidates as well...

...It is possible to say that the money—wherever it came from—bought Pauline Kanchanalak access to the White House...

...But some of Cohen's associations raise questions similar to those raised by the campaign contribution scandal engulfing the Clinton White House...

...William Hou says Kanchanalak knew Huang, but they were just acquaintances —like thousands of other people who knew the Democratic fundraiser...

...and Thailand...

...troops who participated in the liberation of Europe...

...End of answer...

...He says he keeps a voice mail extension at GIMCorp because he does not have one at Scripps-Howard...

...But Cohen's travels to Asia in January and November 1996 raise questions about how faithfully Cohen followed his own rules...

...Continued on page 78) 27 Six Degrees of William Cohen (Continued from page 27) When the party-goers straggled back about 9:3o p.m....senators who had been hanging around since early afternoon, waiting for another roll call, were rude enough to ask who had paid for that fancy dinner...

...But Cohen has another tie to the Center, one that raises questions about the way he does business...

...Beyond that, the Asia Pacific Policy Center paid for most of Cohen's $7,786 in expenses during a trip to Malaysia in January 1996, shortly before he announced he would not seek another term in the Senate...

...We've gone our separate ways," says Center president Douglas Paal...

...We haven't had a word to say to each other...

...Each stop on the November trip reveals some curious connections in Cohen's network...

...Won't the system fall apart...

...BYRON YORK is an investigative writer for The American Spectator...

...Kanchanalak has told reporters that they discussed personal matters, but later that day Huang wrote a memo to his superiors urging the administration to support the Council...

...In the audience that day was William Cohen, the departing Republican senator from Maine who at the time was on the short list to become Clinton's secretary of defense...

...For him, there's no sense going to Europe except on the Concorde...

...In 1979, he started a much-ballyhooed venture called International Reporting and Information Systems...

...In response to written questions from TAS, Cohen said, "I have no relationship with Government Investment Management Corporation...

...If one dials the Policy Center and enters an invalid extension, the automated voice mail system announces, "You have reached GIMCorp...

...It was only as I was going through the gate at the White House that I heard the word `DNC,"' Jackson says...

...Cohen stood for unquestioned integrity...

...Kanchanalak wanted president Clinton to be involved in the events marking the Council's opening in late 1994...

...The incidents took place in such a way that this has the appearance of impropriety or something sinister," she told the Los Angeles Times...

...The next step is 'this guy is weird but he does have some money.'" The source says frictions were exacerbated when press reports appeared outlining Stout's role in the Normandy Foundation...

...The $32,50o contribution was just part of a total of $253,500 that she gave to the DNC between 1993 and 1996...

...Cohen also attended the first two Dialogues, held in November 1994 and January 1996...

...The system was senators for sale...

...And they continue to share a phone system, although Paal says he thought the systems had been separated...

...The first step in the relationship is 'this guy is great,'" the source says...

...Kanchanalak...

...A check of Cohen's schedule confirms he was indeed in Thailand on a previously planned trip that also included stops in Malaysia and Taiwan...

...But they can accept a $7,000 first class around-the-world trip from a quasi-governmental organization in Taiwan for the kind of advocacy of foreign interests that American citizens are cut off from...

...Stout is a wealthy, well-connected Republican lobbyist and businessman who has had what could be generously called a checkered career...

...A spokeswoman for Cohen called it "pure coincidence," saying the senator's trip had been planned for months...

...26 February 1997 • The American Spectator Huang got his way...

...Cohen stood for principled bipartisanship...

...With an always-willing press taking down his words, Cohen portrayed himself as better than the system...

...And he gave it a home, offering to let the Center move into GIMCorp's offices in a downtown Washington building...

...Its trustees include former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci...

...Schram, a columnist for Scripps-Howard newspapers and a regular media critic on CNN's Reliable Sources, "does writing for us," according to a receptionist at GIMCorp...

...all quite normal by Washington standards...

...On October 6, members of the new Council met with Clinton at the White House, and U.S...

...The piece was perhaps the culmination of a career in Washington image making...

...Why would a retiring senator with less than two months left in office—and no remaining Senate business to be 1 done—be jetting around the globe...

...Our normal office hours are...

...It was news to me when I read it in the L.A...

...He says there was no cause-and-effect between Kanchanalak's contributions and the formation of the Council...

...Cohen issued a brief statement in response to questions about his relationship with the Council and Kanchanalak: "Along with Senators Bond, Glenn, Mikulski, Nunn, and Pryor, I attended a November 1994 luncheon with the United States Thailand Business Council during a visit to Bangkok...

...But even a cursory examination of the way Cohen does business reveals that he is the system...

...He attended their events, occasionally consulted their experts, and they hired his son...

...On September 3o she called her friend John Huang at his desk in the Commerce Depai tuient...

...They continue to share office space, although Paal says the Center willmove sometime in the future...

...An Associated Press survey found that the Chinese National Association for Industry and Commerce sponsored thirty trips to Taiwan by members of Congress and their staff in 1996, at a total cost of $117,890...

...And he stresses that Kanchanalak "takes no official role and has no financial relationship" with the Council...

...Stout raised more than $8 million to build an elaborate memorial to U.S...

...And when I left government he suggested we could do business together...

...For a while in the 8o's, before all the ethics rules kicked in, it was the trip," says a former Capitol Hill staffer of the junket to Taiwan...

...Despite that, however, the Center continued to use Stout's money—for more than two years after the Times report outlined Stout's problems...

...Sometime along the way Stout got to know Cohen...

...Jackson says that at the time he did not know Kanchanalak had special connections in the Oval Office...

...But by focusing on the cabinet angle, the press corps missed a more interesting story...

...She played a formative role in getting it set up," says Karl Jackson, the former Republican administration official who heads the Council...

...Stout apparently brought the same extravagant spending habits to GIMCorp that he had to the Normandy Foundation...

...A prototype of the magazine, Invest Washington, was done, but Schram says the project went no further than that...

...Or to actually sell any-thing...

...A few hours later the president and first lady strolled hand-in-hand through the Royal Palace, taking in the ornate Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Hall of Kings...

...One of the main movers behind the Council was Pauline Kanchanalak, a woman from a wealthy Thai family who runs a consulting business called Ban Chang International, based in Washington...

...The American Spectator • February 1997 BY BYRON YORK HOW MANY STEPS DOES IT TAKE TO CONNECT THE NEXT DEFENSE SECRETARY TO SHADY CHARACTERS AND FOREIGN INFLUENCEPEDDLING...

...23 The answer is that Cohen was in the Far East to maintain and extend a network of lobbyists and international business interests that he has carefully built during his years on Capitol Hill...

...Curiously, Cohen was one of the main movers behind the ethics rules that tightened restrictions on such travels...

...Both stories have been denied by all sides, but it is undeniable that groups like the Association and other semi-governmental groups engage in a massive amount of lobbying in the United States...

...If we are concerned that outside interests are trying to buy influence in the administration, shouldn't we also be concerned about their ties to Cohen...

...It involves his relationship with a man named Anthony Stout...

...We didn't want to lobby," says a former official who was involved in the group's founding...

...She's a wonderful person...

...But it appears that Stout's old free-spending ways created problems at the Center...

...rite tenket 7414e4ine The last sponsor of Cohen's November trip, the Chinese National Association for Industry and Commerce, has also been at the edges of the Clinton campaign contribution scandals...

...The company was intended to be a kind of private CIA...

...His trips and his associations are the sort of thing that less flamboyantly principled lawmakers do all the time...

...For example, Stout attended the Pacific Dialogue along with Cohen in January 1996...

...e ,,rtneetim The sponsorship of the Thailand leg of Cohen's trip raises an entirely different set of issues about Cohen's network...

...He has no sense that the money going out should be less than the money coming in," says the source who was involved in the Center's founding...

...So they decided to establish a tax exempt non-profit organization they hoped would be supported by U.S...

...Tony] has extremely expensive tastes," says a source who has worked with Stout...

...But news reports implied that Cohen's appearance seemed a bit contrived and made him look too eager for the job —which he nevertheless was offered less than two weeks later...

...Cc n has oth, the Center, one that raises questions about the way he does business—it involves his relationship with Anthony Stout...

...Usually referred to as GIMCorp, the company charges U.S...

...We did meet during the 1994 Bangkok visit and again this year...

...David Brown, a 3o-year career State Department official, is Paal's second in command, and until mid-1996, the organization included Franklin Lavin, another former NSC official from the Reagan/Bush years...

...Not only did he accept free trips from outside sources, including the Asia Pacific Policy Center, it turns out that one of the major backers of the Center was...Anthony Stout...

...On his relationship with Kanchanalak, Cohen's statement said: "I have no relationship with Ms...

...In the mid-1980's he enlisted Cohen's help—along with that of several other senators and congressmen—to begin his most troubled venture, the Battle of Normandy Foundation...

...The Chinese National Association for Industry and Commerce, a quasi-governmental institution in Taiwan, paid $5,760 for his trip to Taipei...

...It would be hard to be politically active and not come across John...

...In addition, the groups came up with $8,345 to pay for a Senate aide to travel with Cohen...

...These guys went over there, they'd be coming back with strings of pearls for their wives and girlfriends...

...It does not take an enormous effort to figure out which late-arriving Republican senator from Maine was among the guests at the dinner for the prime minister of Malaysia...

...Run by Douglas Paal, who served on the National Security Council during the Republican years, the Policy Center signed up an impressive roster...

...I take this step to ensure that my constituents feel confident of the trust they have placed in me...

...But it turns out Kanchanalak was not just any donor...

...There have been reports that the cash came from her mother-in-law in Thailand, but right now it is impossible to make any final conclusion about its origin...

...corporations that would look to the Policy Center for the latest intelligence on Asia...

...By most accounts, Stout spent freely and mismanaged the operation, and in 1983 the company went bankrupt, $15 million in debt...

...Just what was Cohen doing in Asia anyway...

...I thought, What's going on...

...How did it come about that Cohen just happened to be in the neighborhood when Clinton was in Thailand— at a time when Cohen was a top contender for a big job in the cabinet...

...In a later conversation, he said the arrangement was made before he joined the Council...

...Also at the palace, Clinton attended a ceremony for the signing of a treaty that regularizes taxation on businesses operating in both the U.S...

...On October 20, she made a $32,5oo donation to the Democratic National Committee...

...The Association is closely aligned with the Taiwanese government, which allegedly offered a world-record $15 million to the Democratic National Committee to re-elect Bill Clinton...

...I knew John," Hou says...

...Stout also convinced Cohen and others in the Senate to sponsor a bill giving $3 million in federal money to the foundation...

...According to one of its brochures, GIMCorp "has a proven track record of assisting American and international firms with market entry strategies...representing companies in negotiations with foreign governments...

...and the relationship between U.S...

...I can't go to a member or former colleague and buy him lunch at La Brasserie," the Hill quoted a former Senate staffer as saying...

...The system was partisan rhetoric...

...NOT MANY...

...According to disclosure documents on file with the Senate, three outside groups paid for Cohen's November trip...

...Cohen no doubt enjoyed Stout's largesse...

...in exchange for very high fees, Stout and a team of former government analysts would provide clients intelligence on political developments around the world...

...In a Washington Post op-ed explaining his decision to retire, Cohen wrote that many of his colleagues expressed sadness over his action...

...Why are so many leaving the Senate...

...But now, with all the Indonesia stuff, I heard they had trouble getting a trip together this year...

...And the U.S.-Thailand Business Council, a group that has played a prominent role in the Clinton fundraising scandal, paid $2,648 for his trip to Bangkok...

...YOU CAN EVEN LINK HIM TO CLINTON'S ASIAN MONEY SCANDALS—BUT WITH COHEN, THE BIGGER SCANDAL IS THE SYSTEM THAT CREATED HIM...

...According to a series of investigative reports by the Washington Times, Stout spent more than 90 percent of the money on administration, consultants' fees, Trips like the one in ,lovember also created connections that could have made Cohen a rich man after Ieavir he Senate...

...But for callers after hours, the story is different...

...Jackson says it was only later that he learned the extent of Kanchanalak's contributions to the Democrats...

...24 February 1997 • The American Spectator fundraising, entertainment, and travel for himself and others in the foundation...

...The survey did not include Cohen's trip, since it happened in November...

...ZrRveCin'741,stn Senate niles forbid lame-duck senators from spending government funds on foreign travel...

...At first glance there seems nothing remarkable about Cohen's involvement with the Center...

...corporations a fee to make the connections they need to expand into overseas markets...

...But even as Cohen was making his plea, his own practices were raising the eyebrows of a few of his colleagues...

...Trips to Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia in April 1996 were paid for with taxpayer dollars...

...Still, sources say Stout talked a very impressive game—and he did have cash to fund the Center...

...In the 1970's he founded the National Journal, a highly respected publication that gives its Washington establishment readers the inside scoop on events in Congress...

...Nearly all were perplexed," Cohen continued...

...And if one calls the Policy Center and enters extension 207, the system transfers the caller to Anthony Stout's office.' Cohen has never been terribly eager to speak publicly about his relationship with Stout or GIMCorp...

...And they paid the expenses of senator-elect Susan Collins, the former Cohen aide who won his seat last November and accompanied him on the trip to Asia...

...The case remains under investigation by the Clinton Justice Department...

...Kanchanalak says there is no connection between the Council events and the donation...

...The purpose, according to a former official of the Center, was "to bring government and business types together for a few days of elevated chitchat," free from the large crowds of major conferences...

...The major topic of the meeting was a general discussion of U.S./China policy that might occur in a hundred rooms in this town on a given day," he says...

...He came to me while I was in government," says Center president Douglas Paal...

...Start with Malaysia...

...He would come into a meeting and say we need to purchase a jet...

...The reason for Cohen's stop was an event called the "Third Pacific Dialogue...

...Stout's company paid for Cohen to travel to London and Paris in March 1989 and again in November 199o, as well as two other overseas trips...

...And they will still prove very lucrative when Cohen eventually does leave government, his value further enhanced by a stint at the Pentagon...

...The conversation, according to Jackson, was unremarkable...

...Thousands of people lined the streets and threw confetti as the presidential motorcade made its way through the streets of Bangkok—pasta billboard-sized picture of Bill and Hillary Clinton...

...Even some of the same players are involved...

...Schram says he was hired by Stout to work on a proposed new magazine that would focus on the relationship of the government and business...

...Since early '96 we have not had a relationship with him...

...William Cohen is just one of dozens of lawmakers who accept their generosity...

...Trade Representative Mickey Kantor spoke at the inaugural luncheon...

...The two greeted each other like old friends, but afterward neither would say much about their conversation...

...Today, Center officials say they have cut off all dealings with Stout...

...Over the years this has sometimes led Cohen to display an impressive reserve of self-righteousness, even by Capitol Hill standards...

...The DNC returned the money in late November when it determined that Kanchanalak was probably not giving her own money...

...Failing to do so, Huang warned, "could really damage [Clinton's] personal relationship between him and Prime Minister Chuan...

...Two years ago, he told the Washington Times that he had discussed Asian security and trade issues with Stout, but now he won't even go that far...

...This past November, Senator Frist, Senator Gorton, Congressman SoudThe American Spectator • February 1997 er and I participated in the Council's annual meeting, held in Bangkok...

...He liked my tie," was all Cohen would reveal...

...Stout is someone I have known for a number of years...

...and Thailand if Prime Minister of Thailand cancels his visit to the U.S...

...The Asia Pacific Policy Center, a Washington-based organization with long ties to Cohen, paid $1,609 for his trip to Malaysia...

...he had not traveled halfway around the world just to kiss up to Bill Clinton...

...We wanted to be serious about policy...

...She contributes time, is a font of ideas —I can't say enough in the way of good about her...

...Sponsored by the Asia Pacific Policy Center, the Dialogue was a gathering of fifty government and business officials from the U.S...

...How can the center hold...

...The system was politics as usual...

...Cohen stood for the ideal of public service...

...But Jackson did not mention that the Council and Kanchanalak's company, Ban Chang International, share an office in downtown Washington...

...The meetings—which in addition to Cohen featured senators Sam Nunn and Kit Bond—were off-limits to the press...

...But— at least physically—the two groups remain close...

...A short time later, Stout founded yet another company, this one called Government Investment Management Corporation...

...Records released by the Secret Service show that she has visited the White House twenty-six times since Clinton took office...

...On October 18, Kanchanalak visited Huang at the Commerce Department...

...The voice mail system reveals another name: at extension zu one hears a message from journalist Martin Schram...

...After the news came out, Cohen distanced himself from Stout and told the Portland Press Herald, "In the interest of removing the slightest suggestion of impropriety, I will not undertake any further travel that is sponsored by business interests...

...and the Far East...

...And at a state dinner that evening they appeared transfixed, as masked dancers performed elaborate classical Thai dances...